| Paper Mill Playhouse World Premiere Musical TAKE THE LEAD | |
| Last Edit: Official_Press_Release 01:46 pm EST 01/28/25 | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 01:37 pm EST 01/28/25 | |
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| Continuing the Tony Award-Recognized Institution's 2024-2025 Season and Marking 86 Years in Millburn, New Jersey Paper Mill Playhouse Announces Casting and Creative Team for World Premiere Musical Take the Lead Based on the 2006 dance film starring Antonio Banderas and the true story of professional dancer Pierre Dulaine, who brought the art of ballroom dance into New York City public schools Performances Begin Saturday, March 29 Opening Sunday, April 6 Through Sunday, April 27 www.papermill.org MILLBURN, NJ – January 28, 2025 – Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee, Producing Artistic Director; Michael Stotts, Executive Director), recipient of the Regional Theatre Tony Award, is pleased to announce casting and the creative team for the world premiere musical Take the Lead. The production begins performances Saturday, March 29 ahead of a Sunday, April 6 opening night at Paper Mill Playhouse (22 Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ). The run continues through Sunday, April 27, 2025. Set in the pulsating heart of New York City, Take the Lead is a joyful new musical based on the 2006 dance film that starred Antonio Banderas. This electrifying tale is the true story of Pierre Dulaine, a former professional dancer who, against all odds, brought the art of ballroom dance into New York City public schools. This world-premiere musical spotlights a dynamic fusion of ballroom and hip-hop in its music and choreography with a book by Robert Cary and Jonathan Tolins ("Schmigadoon!") and a score by Elliah Heifetz and Zeniba Now. Take the Lead is co-choreographed by Jennifer Weber (& Juliet) and Maria Torres (So You Think You Can Dance) and directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli (Newsies, Death Becomes Her). The cast will feature former 3LW and Cheetah Girls member Adrienne Bailon-Houghton as Arianna, Vincent Jamal Hooper (Hamilton, The Lion King) as Rock, Savy Jackson (Bad Cinderella, Once On This Island First National Tour) as La Rhette, Tam Mutu (Doctor Zhivago, Moulin Rouge! The Musical) as Pierre Dulaine, and Matthew Risch (Modern Family, How to Get Away With Murder) as Alan. The ensemble also includes Eric Ascione, Megan Elyse Fulmer, Gaelen Gilliland, David Jennings, Dillon Lehman, Natalia Nieves, Justin O'Brien, Kevin Trinio Perdido, Ryan Raffloer , Deon Releford-Lee, Cristian Rodriguez, Kiki Rodriguez, Jonalyn Saxer, Tatiana Seliverstova, SeQuoiia, Grace Slear, Salome Smith, Stephani Sosa, Christian Whan, and Zoë Zimmerman. The creative team also includes music supervision by Bill Sherman, music direction by Geoffrey Ko, and orchestrations and arrangements by Bill Sherman and Geoffrey Ko. Scenic design is by Paul Tate DePoo III, costume design by Jen Caprio, lighting design by Justin Townsend and Nick Solyom, sound design by Walter Trarbach, and hair, wig and makeup design by Earon Chew Nealey. The production stage manager is Molly Meg Legal and casting is by The Telsey Office. Take the Lead is based on the New Line Cinema film written by Dianne Houston, by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures. The Bye Family New Works Fund is the Marquee Sponsor. Currently playing at Paper Mill, the new musical Mystic Pizza runs through Sunday, February 23 only. Following Take the Lead, the 2024-2025 season concludes with Disney's The Little Mermaid (May 29-June 29). ACCESSIBILITY AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCES are scheduled for Sunday, April 20 at 1:30pm and Saturday, April 26 at 1:30pm. OPEN-CAPTIONED PERFORMANCES are scheduled for Saturday, April 26 at 1:30pm and Sunday, April 27 at 7:00pm. An ASL-INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE is scheduled for Sunday, April 27 at 7:00pm. ABOUT PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE , recipient of the Regional Theatre Tony Award, is a nationally renowned not-for-profit theater under the direction of Mark S. Hoebee (Producing Artistic Director) and Michael Stotts (Executive Director). A beloved New Jersey arts institution since 1938, Paper Mill creates and produces groundbreaking new musicals and reimagined classics. Several productions have gone on to Broadway and launched national tours, including The Great Gatsby, Disney's Newsies , Bandstand, Honeymoon in Vegas, A Bronx Tale, and Les Misérables (25th Anniversary production). The theater is also the home to an award-winning center for musical theater education and artist training, with outreach programs that impact thousands of students each year. As one of the nation's premier musical theaters, Paper Mill fosters a creative environment to advance the art form, educate students, develop future theater lovers, nurture inclusion, and provide access for all. Paper Mill Playhouse programs are made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Paper Mill Playhouse is a member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, the Council of Stock Theatres, and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance. BIOGRAPHIES ADRIENNE BAILON-HOUGHTON (Arianna) is an Emmy Award–winning talk show host, singer, actress, and entrepreneur. She gained fame as a member of the chart-topping music groups 3LW and The Cheetah Girls. Adrienne made history as the first Latina to cohost a daytime talk show and earned an Emmy for her work on "The Real." She is the founder of La Voûte, a luxury fashion brand that blends her passion for style and empowerment. A proud Latina, Adrienne celebrates her heritage through her endeavors, inspiring fans worldwide with her authenticity and dedication. VINCENT JAMAL HOOPER (Rock) is a New York Times–featured multi-hyphenate artist recently seen on Broadway as Simba in The Lion King. He has performed around the world in Hamilton—including in Puerto Rico alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda—playing the roles of Hamilton, Burr, Lafayette/Jefferson, George Washington, and King George III. Off Broadway he appeared as Tarik in Pulitzer and Tony winner Michael R. Jackson's White Girl in Danger. Select TV credits include "Chicago Med" and "Shots Fired." His debut album, Tune Inn, is available now on all streaming platforms. Instagram: @vincentjamalhooper SAVY JACKSON (La Rhette) is over the moon to be making her Paper Mill Playhouse debut! Savy most recently made their Broadway debut in the original company of Bad Cinderella starring as the titular role every Sunday. Savy can also be seen in the HBO Max feature Sweethearts. Other credits include the national tour of Once on This Island , Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (Geva Theatre), and Ariel in The Little Mermaid (The Muny). Savy is also a singer/songwriter currently working on their debut album. Savy's music can be found on all streaming platforms. Instagram: @savy.jackson TAM MUTU (Pierre Dulaine). Broadway: Moulin Rouge! (Grammy Award nomination), Doctor Zhivago (Drama League Award nomination). City Center Encores!: Oliver!; Hey, Look Me Over!; The New Yorkers. West End: City of Angels (Donmar Warehouse); Les Misérables (Sondheim); Love Never Dies (Adelphi); Love's Labour's Lost, Royal Hunt of the Sun, South Pacific (National Theatre); Romeo and Juliet, King Lear (RSC); As You Like It, Oh! What a Lovely War (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre). Regional: The Secret Garden (5th Avenue, Seattle), Chess (Princess of Wales, Toronto). TV: "Law & Order: Organized Crime," "Medici," "Sherlock," "Blue Bloods." Film: Mary Poppins Returns. MATTHEW RISCH (Alan Ford). TV: "Modern Family," "How to Get Away with Murder," "Looking," "Tales of the City," "Bonding," "Saint X," "Switched at Birth," "Younger," among others. He starred in the independent film Test and was featured in Sex and the City 2. Broadway credits include Joey Evans in the last revival of Pal Joey, Carlos in the original company of Legally Blonde, Trip Wyeth in Other Desert Cities, and Fred Casely in Chicago. Other theater credits include Sky in Barrington Stage's Guys and Dolls, Zach in Signature Theatre's A Chorus Line, and Here You Come Again at Goodspeed. ROBERT CARY (Book). Broadway: Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, On the Town (additional material). Off Broadway: Inventing Avi. West End: Flashdance (also co-lyricist). Regional: Palm Beach: The Screwball Musical (also lyricist), Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, The Ballad of Johnny and June, all at La Jolla Playhouse. Television: Grease Live! (Fox) and A Christmas Story Live! (Fox). Film: Anything but Love (screenwriter and director); Ira and Abby (director); Save Me (director). Concerts: Get Happy! (Carnegie Hall) and 50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center. Writers Guild of America. JONATHAN TOLINS (Book). Broadway: The Twilight of the Golds, On the Town (additional material). Off Broadway/Regional: Buyer & Cellar, Secrets of the Trade, The Last Sunday in June, The Forgotten Woman, If Memory Serves. Film: Martian Child, The Twilight of the Golds. Television: "Elsbeth" (showrunner), "East New York," "Schmigadoon!," "The Good Fight," A Christmas Story Live!, Grease Live!, "BrainDead," "Partners," "Queer as Folk," Tony Awards, Academy Awards. Concerts: The Divine Miss Millennium Tour and The Showgirl Must Go On, both for Bette Midler. Panelist on the Metropolitan Opera Radio Quiz. Member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America. ELLIAH HEIFETZ (Music & Lyrics). Theater: Death of Desert Rose (Little Sparrow Productions), Baba (ISU), Dust Can't Kill Me (Best Music, NYMF). Elliah has written pop songs for major label projects and hit TV series alike (published by Freddy Wexler/The Brain Music), most recently Ashley Park's "Emily in Paris" on-screen performance of "Ruins" (Netflix, 2024 Hollywood Music in Media Award). Singer-songwriter: Best of Rising Country & Folk (Tidal), Kerrville New Folk finalist. Honors: Johnny Mercer Songwriters, DGF Fellows, Rhinebeck, Goodspeed Grove. Elliah is also an EP on an upcoming MGM/Orion film. ZENIBA NOW (Music & Lyrics) is an award-winning musical storyteller and artscientist. She performed in her cowritten Richard Rodgers Award–winning musical The Loophole (The Public Studio) and the PBS-featured short Beloved (#BARS at The Public Theater). She wrote and performed "Stay on The Line" from Human Resources (St. Louis Rep, Woolly Mammoth) and her solo shows iQuit: Millennial Retirement Gala (Green Room 42) and The Speed of Truth (Joe's Pub). Zeniba releases music on all streaming platforms, posts on social media @zenibanow, and shares upcoming live experiences in her newsletter, which you can subscribe to at www.ZenibaNow.com. CHRISTOPHER GATTELLI (Director & Choreographer) is currently represented on Broadway with Death Becomes Her. Excited to be back at Paper Mill after The Baker's Wife and Disney's Newsies, which led to Tony, Drama Desk, and OCC awards. Broadway: 20 productions including My Fair Lady, SpongeBob SquarePants, The King and I, and South Pacific. Lortel Awards for Dogfight, Bat Boy, and Altar Boyz. As director-choreographer: Schmigadoon! (Kennedy Center); Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert (Drury Lane, London); Silence! The Musical; Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas; In Your Arms. Film: Wonka; Isn't It Romantic?; Hail, Caesar! Television: "Schmigadoon!" (two Emmy nominations), "Miracle Workers," "Bupkis." MARIA TORRES (Co-choreographer, Ballroom) is an internationally renowned choreographer celebrated for her pioneering work in Latin jazz and social dances like hustle and salsa. A Dance Magazine Award honoree, Maria showcased her innovative style on Broadway in Tony-nominated shows such as Swing! and On Your Feet! Her expertise shines in the Oscar-nominated film Enchanted and as a resident choreographer on "So You Think You Can Dance." Maria's directorial brilliance was featured in the Off Broadway hit Celia, and she now co-choreographs Take the Lead. She is a board member of SDC and SDCF. Follow her on Instagram: @Maria.Torres.Official. JENNIFER WEBER (Co-choreographer, Hip-hop). Broadway/West End: & Juliet (Olivier and Tony nominations), Redwood (dream choreography), KPOP (Tony nomination). Regional/Off Broadway: American Idiot (CTG/Deaf West), Kane and Abel (Theater Orb, Tokyo), Teenage Dick (The Public), Cruel Intentions (LPR/US tour). Film: Disney's Zombies 2, While You Were Gone (Emmy Award). Commissions: Tulsa Ballet, L.A. Music Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center, NY City Center. Weber is the co-creator, director, and choreographer of The Hip Hop Nutcracker, featuring rap legend Kurtis Blow, touring annually and recorded for an Emmy-winning PBS special. She was an EP/choreographer on a film version of Hip Hop Nutcracker for Disney+. @jenniferwebernyc BILL SHERMAN (Music Supervisor, Co-orchestrator, Co-arranger) has won Emmys, Grammys, and a Tony Award for his work on projects including In the Heights, "Sesame Street," and the Hamilton original Broadway cast album. His credits include music director of "Sesame Street," "The Electric Company," "Nature Cat," and "Donkey Hodie " on PBS and HBO. He's worked alongside artists including Janelle Monáe, Bruno Mars, Sia, Gwen Stefani, and will.i.am. Currently, Bill is the music supervisor for & Juliet, a musical featuring the songs of Max Martin, at the Sondheim Theater. & Juliet can also be seen on US and UK tours as well as in Hamburg, Germany. GEOFFREY KO (Music Director, Co-orchestrator, Co-arranger) is a music director, orchestrator, and arranger. Broadway: The Notebook , Be More Chill. Off Broadway: Broadway Bounty Hunter, Baby (new orchestrations), Generation Me, Renascence. Previous Paper Mill credits include Jersey Boys, Disney's A Jolly Holiday, and The Honeymooners. World premieres at Paper Mill Playhouse, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Two River Theater, Williamstown, Ogunquit Playhouse, TPAC, Argyle Theatre, Bucks County Playhouse, and the Marriott Theatre. Other work: Ride (West End), Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, the Jimmy Awards, and Disney on Broadway concerts. Geoffrey is a New Jersey native and graduate of Northwestern University. @geoffreyhko PAUL TATE dePOO III (Scenic Design) is a scenic, projection, and production designer. Broadway: The Great Gatsby (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle awards), Spamalot, The Cottage (OCC nomination). Kennedy Center: Nine; Tick, Tick…Boom!; Sunset Boulevard; Guys and Dolls; The Who's Tommy; The Music Man; Footloose; Next to Normal. Additional highlights: Usher's My Way: The Las Vegas Residency and Rendez-vous à Paris; Titanic, Dear World (City Center Encores!); Turandot (Austria); Così fan tutte (Santa Fe Opera); Sweeney Todd (Seoul); Grand Hotel (Helen Hayes Award). His designs span Broadway, opera, live entertainment, and architectural design, including the interior design for Paper Mill's Carriage House renovation. pauldepoo.com JEN CAPRIO (Costume Design). Paper Mill: Mystic Pizza, Beautiful, Clue, Songs for a New World, Beehive, The Other Josh Cohen. Broadway: The Heart of Rock and Roll, Spamalot, Falsettos, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. National/International: Clue, Falsettos, Joseph… , The Lion (West End/US tour), …Spelling Bee (US tours). TV: "The Pigeon Explains!" (YouTube), "Tiny Time Travel" (PBS Kids), "Sesame Street" (seasons 47–54), "The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo" (seasons 1–2), "Manhunt" (Apple TV+). Daytime Emmy Award winner for "Sesame Street" in 2020, nominated in 2019 and 2021. www.jencaprio.com , Instagram: @jencapriocostumedesign JUSTIN TOWNSEND (Co–Lighting Design). Broadway: Death Becomes Her, Once Upon a Mattress, Here Lies Love (Drama Desk), Moulin Rouge! (Tony, Drama Desk, OCC), Jagged Little Pill (Tony nomination), The Humans (Drama Desk; Tony nomination), American Psycho (OCC, Drama Desk; Tony nomination), Vanya and Sonia… , Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Obie Award, Sustained Excellence in Lighting Design. Chair, NYU Dept. of Design for Stage and Film. justintownsenddesign.com NICK SOLYOM (Co–Lighting Design). Paper Mill Playhouse design debut! Lighting designs: Westerly Breath (Met Museum), Imaginary Comforts (Berkeley Rep), and The Christians (Gulfshore Playhouse). Associate lighting designs: Death Becomes Her, The Outsiders, Moulin Rouge!, The Music Man, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Previously at PMP: South Pacific (associate lighting design). SolyomDesign.com WALTER TRARBACH (Sound Design). Broadway: Water for Elephants (Drama Desk Award), SpongeBob SquarePants (Tony nomination), The Farnsworth Invention, Cymbeline. Co–Sound Designs: Ain't Too Proud (Tony nomination), Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Doctor Zhivago. Other credits: The Harder They Come, Queen of the Mist, The Unsinkable Molly Brown. He is married to photographer Kimberly Witham. EARON CHEW NEALEY (Hair, Wig & Makeup Design). Broadway: Fat Ham. Diary of a Tap Dancer (A.R.T.); Toni Stone, Fat Ham, Joe Turner's Come and Gone (The Huntington); Bad Kreyól, Three Houses (Signature); Table 17 (makeup design, MCC); A Midsummer Night's Dream, Malvolio , Twelfth Night (Classical Theatre of Harlem); Hamlet, The Harder They Come, Fat Ham, Cullud Wattah, Mojada (Public Theater); Dames at Sea, Kinky Boots (Bucks County Playhouse); The Last Supper (SOPAC); On Killing (Soho Rep); Little Girl Blue (Goodspeed, New World Stages); Meet Vera Stark, Matilda (Colorado University); On Sugarland (NYTW); Nina Simone: Four Women (Berkshire Theatre Group); Little Women (Dallas Theater Center); Oklahoma! (Weston); Cadillac Crew, Twelfth Night (Yale Rep). THE TELSEY OFFICE (Casting). With offices in both New York and Los Angeles, The Telsey Office casts for theater, film, television, and commercials. The Telsey Office is dedicated to creating safe, equitable, and anti-racist spaces through collaboration, artistry, heart, accountability, and advocacy. thetelseyoffice.com MOLLY MEG LEGAL (Production Stage Manager). Credits include Six (production supervisor, North America and first national tour); Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations (Broadway, production supervisor for national tours); Jersey Boys (Broadway, second national tour, and Chicago company); In the Heights (Kennedy Center); and the national tours of The Lion King, Mary Poppins, Billy Elliot, Annie (30th Anniversary), Cameron Mackintosh's Oliver!, and Love, Janis. Board member at the Weathervane Theatre in NH. # # # www.papermill.org |
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